Customer Reviews
Thought provoking - By: A reader, 04 Nov 2006 
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature & how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book & others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality & dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional & physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape & texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aestheticallly antithetical & which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexuallly stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challlenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions & surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs & leads to despair & death. As Art this is in my view an important work & should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought & the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.
fun and educational - By: , 11 Feb 2006 
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to reallly understand the metaphorical language & the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's & Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.
The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read & those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.
Definately worth a read - By: , 09 Jan 2006 Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, & if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, & whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.
Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this - By: rob howard, 19 May 2003 
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especiallly ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, & the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shalllow & forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish & under-developed fantasies.
The book reads like a hasty & excited first draft, with proportionallly huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative & original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating & largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few & far between.
If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment & a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold & ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.
Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality - By: , 05 Mar 2002 
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive & cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise & fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille & buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)
